Having purchased Green and Short's "World Atlas of Seagrasses", also from California Press, I was quite excited to find this volume. Green and Short describe nearly all of the world's seagrasses, complete with line drawings and species comparisons, and map their distribution. They also include info on preservation, destruction, etc. It is an invaluable resource for anyone needing to identify or locate seagrasses. I was disappointed, however, when I received "World Atlas of Coral Reefs". The entire text is devoted to describing areas where reefs are found, but rarely mentions anything about the corals themselves! I saw <Diadema> listed more often than any coral genus! If you want to learn about the per capita fish consumption of Mauritius or phosphate mining on the atoll of Nauru, this is the book for you. If, however, you are interested in corals and the reefs that they construct (which is probably why you are reading this) you should move on to another book.